Advancing the Story: Quality Journalism in a Digital World
Fourth Edition
Tip Sheet
Creating a Portfolio Checklist
So, what should a good portfolio include? We've created this checklist to help guide you.
- DO consider the web address for your portfolio. Whenever possible, try to purchase the yourname.com. That will make it easier for a potential employer to find you if he or she loses the actual link.
- DO realize the home page of your portfolio sends an instant message. If a picture of you is the biggest thing on the page, you may be suggesting that you're superficial. Instead it may be better to make your work the most prominent element.
- DO make it easy for potential employers to contact you. DON'T bury your email address or your phone number behind a link to another page, put it front and center. And for goodness sake, DON'T use those email contact forms!
- DO be sure to include links to your social media sites on the home page as well, but BEWARE--a picture of you drinking at the beach with your friends or a tweet filled with profanity may make someone think twice about hiring you.
- DON'T force employers to click more than necessary. If you want to create a PDF version of your resume, that's fine, but you should also publish it directly on the page, so they don't have to click again to see it.
- DO keep your portfolio fresh. Incorporate your blog into your portfolio or plug in your Twitter account. That way, your site will look timely.
- DON'T put your references' e-mail addresses on your portfolio site, otherwise the robots that crawl the web may end up spamming them because of you.